For our March Cinema Classics screenings, we’re proud to present a 35mm print of JOHNNY GUITAR, as part of the Hollywood Theatre’s Feminist March programming. The screening on 3/7 is free for Hollywood Theatre members.
Joan Crawford stars as Vienna, a self-made woman who makes no apologies for her life and her loves. Equally vital is her conflict with Emma (Mercedes McCambridge), a powerful woman who resents Vienna’s freedom. Sterling Hayden plays the title character, a laconic gunman who is forced by virtue of conscience and intelligence to take a stand against the insidious mob that Emma sends after Vienna.
Directed by Nicholas Ray, this McCarthy-era allegory features stunning color photography and double entendres galore. Though initially disregarded by critics, JOHNNY GUITAR has slowly come to be recognized as one of the great American films of the 1950s.